Psychological Approach to Literature

10 psychological approach analyzes a novel from psychological side of human beings. It intends to understand the pattern of human personality and behavior. Thus, the characters’ behavior and thought can be appropriately understood by using a psychological approach pp. 6-15. In this study, a psychological approach is used to explore the information related to the personality of a character from the psychological point of view.

2. Theory of Character

Character is one element in a novel despite setting, plot, theme, symbolism, point of view, etc. In the novel, characters have important roles since they enliven the story and build the readers’ interest. The creations of character make the readers understand and experience what the author wants to convey through the works since characters are the representation of human being. Abrams 2012 defines characters as the persons introduced in a dramatic or narrative work that show moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities which are revealed through the action and the dialogue p. 46. In this point, character is understood as the qualities that describes a particular figure in the story. Characters in fiction drama have many categories, depending on the context. Henkle 1977 divides characters into two categories, namely major character and secondary character or minor character p. 88. Henkle defines major character as a character which is presented with fullness of detail and he or she usually becomes the central or the focus of the story. The importance of major character includes his or her behavior, action, and speech that happen from the 11 beginning until the end of the story. On the other hand, minor character or secondary character is a character which appears just in certain event and performs limited function in the story. However, minor characters are important to strengthen the development of major character since they become the background of the major character. In addition, Foster 1927 distinguishes the characters into two kinds, namely flat and round character as cited in Barnet, 2011, p. 358-359. A flat character is relatively simple and static. It usually has only one trait or feature and does not change as the story progresses. Compared to flat character, a round character is presented with several traits. It is likely to be complex and dynamic, in which the character changes at the end of the story.

3. Theory of Characterization